


The Breaths Between Yearning

by Mytay



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, M/M, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:41:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23657014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mytay/pseuds/Mytay
Summary: Lance has been on a solo mission for weeks. Keith misses him. Maybe. Just a little.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 51
Kudos: 320





	The Breaths Between Yearning

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this little tale back on my Tumblr three years ago, under the title [_Lance has been on mission for two weeks, and Keith’s been waiting up._](https://thisgirlhastales.tumblr.com/post/159269167408/lance-has-been-on-mission-for-two-weeks-and) I went through this weird cleaning spree of my writing tag and decided to start posting these mini one-shots — I had completely forgotten about most of them. 
> 
> I’ve fixed up some mistakes and added a little more to it. Hope y’all have fun :) *hugs*

******

He’s been listening closely to each transmission, and Lance sounds okay. He sounds happy, even; the Kreells' planet has beaches everywhere, and the locals have been giving him unlimited access to them.

“Man, I’m swimming five hours a day, easy, and then we have meetings that last, like, two at most, and then _food. Wow,_ the food is _awesome._ ” Lance laughs as Keith makes a face. “Yeah, be jealous, I’m living it up over here.”

“My last mission involved crawling around mining shafts for thirty-six hours straight,” Keith grumbles, clutching his pillow below the camera’s eyeline. “Of course, you would get to go to Luxury Resort Planet.”

“Your mission involved you being a big damn hero and saving fifty people from a cave-in,” Lance says, and he’s beaming with pride as he speaks. Keith can’t help but smile when he sees it. “It was amazing.”

“Pidge and Hunk came back two days ago, how come you’re still there?” Keith asks, curious, maybe complaining a little. His fingers dig into the pillow, enough to be uncomfortable.

“Because they trust me above everyone else, I guess. Something to do with Blue and mine’s affinity for water? Should be done soon.” Lance’s grin is edging into leering territory now, and Keith flushes, annoyed at how _easily_ Lance can do this to him. “Don’t train yourself to death while I’m gone. I know you probably have a lot of, ah, _pent up energy—_ ”

“Yeah, okay, Shiro’s calling us for dinner, _bye now._ ”Keith rolls his eyes, but he gives Lance a chance to laugh and blow him a kiss before he ends the transmission.

A handful of days shouldn’t be a big deal, he tells himself as he shoves his pillow away, sighing loudly. This is truly pathetic, on his part — how badly he aches without another long limbed body tangled with his own at night. How much his ears strain to hear breathing echoing, near in tandem with his inhales and exhales.

He rolls his eyes at himself this time, and actually moves to get some dinner. _No big deal, stop being so damn ridiculous._ And he does stop. He laughs with the others, trains with Shiro, _chills the hell out …_

And then a week passes by with _nothing,_ no calls at all.

Allura assures him that everything is fine, that she’s still getting Lance’s reports every day, but that negotiations for the alliance had become tougher than expected. Lance is refusing to leave until the Kreells agree to help protect the smaller, less technologically advanced planets in their system — especially as the Kreell civilization had plenty of ships and shields to spare.

Another seven days go by; Keith falls asleep every night on one of the couches in the observation lounge. Their bed is a little too empty for him, not as warm or as soft for _whatever_ reason … (Obviously, _he knows why,_ but he’s frustrated at himself, at how quickly he’d become so _dependent_ on someone who isn’t his adopted older brother. Someone who had snuck up on him and beautifully devastated his life.)

He’s drowsing now, on that thin edge between dozing and sleeping, when he feels a tender pressure against his temple. He opens his eyes halfway.

A flash of deep brown skin, blue eyes, and Lance’s smile. “Hey there, stranger.”

Keith will blame the fact that he’s not completely awake, that he hasn’t been sleeping well in weeks, for the way he jumps up, wrapping his arms tightly around Lance’s shoulders, sending them both crashing to the floor.

“Ow. Hi. But ow.” Lance rubs at his head; he’s still smiling. “Missed me, huh?”

Keith glares, but he knows it’s not nearly as intimidating as it should be, considering his own lips are up at the corners. “Took you way too long. Should’ve just threatened to shoot them and been done with it.”

“And that’s why Allura sends everyone but you to these things,” Lance laughs out. His hand reaches up, brushing the bangs away from Keith’s eyes, running through the rest of his hair over and over. “I definitely missed you, mullet brain. So tell me how much pining you did while I was gone. All of it, right? All the pining?”

“Nope, _nada,_ ” Keith answers, burying his face where Lance’s neck meets his shoulder. _Damn_ _,_ but he’d nearly forgotten how _good_ Lance smelled; and fine, it was mostly cologne and his skincare products, but it was familiar and safe and _home._

They lie there for a few minutes, Lance’s hand still stroking through Keith’s hair, his other hand running up and down his spine. Eventually, Lance tugs a little, prompting Keith to lean back.

“C’mon, I really need our bed right now.”

He sits up so that Keith is straddling his lap. Lance’s hands slide down, and before Keith can say or do anything, he’s standing up, and Keith has his legs wrapped around Lance’s waist, clutching tightly to keep from falling.

_Oh. Shit._ Keith inhales sharply. “Since when—”

“Since years of training, and a few weeks of non-stop swimming,” Lance answers, looking smug. “Yeah, I’m coming for your role as the buff one in our relationship. Whatcha gonna do about it?”

Keith pretends to think as Lance walks them to their room, though the reality is that his brain is a bit broken by this revelation — he can feel Lance’s biceps bulge, and he’s barely breathing hard, despite carrying Keith’s not inconsiderable weight all this way …

Once he’s got some control over his voice, Keith raises his eyebrows and says, “I’ll remind you of your place tomorrow when we spar and I kick your ass. But for tonight? This is pretty ho—nice.”

Well, not as much control as he’d thought, Keith reflects with despair, as Lance’s smugness goes up several notches.

“Hot? You were going to say _hot,_ but you chickened out at the last second!” Lance crows. “Man, I’m gonna get some sexy talk out of you, someday, you’ll see. And then I’ll probably die from the sexy, but it’ll be so worth it.”

Keith twists in his grip as they reach their door, palming the panel so it slides open and Lance doesn’t have to risk dropping him. As soon as they’re inside, he’s using his weight to force Lance back against the now closed door; Lance struggles to keep a firm grasp on him, to keep them both upright.

“Who’s the stronger one?” Keith breathes out right against Lance’s ear.

He’s rewarded by a shudder, and by finally being dropped down. Keith lands easily, grinning at Lance, who glares, his blue eyes tired but warm.

“Yeah, yeah. Gimmie a couple more weeks, then I’ll be able to bench press you,” Lance says, yawning as he strips down to his shorts, yanking on Keith’s shirt. “Querido, dale. Sleep now.”

Twenty seconds later, Keith is down to his own shorts and in bed with his boyfriend. Lance curls up against him, resting his head on Keith’s chest, and Keith takes his chance to run his own hand through soft brown hair, watching how it curls around his fingers. A muffled, happy sound vibrates into Keith’s skin, but no words come from Lance — he’s out like a light.

“I did miss you,” Keith whispers. “Way too much. It was embarrassing.”

Lance just breathes deeply in response.

Keith presses a kiss to the crown of his head, murmuring into his hair, “I love you.”

He’s floating away into sleep himself …

He knows that in the morning, Lance will refuse to get up right away; he’ll whine and tease and seduce Keith into staying in bed. And Keith will complain and argue and give in begrudgingly except not really. Because he’d really, truly missed all of this with a profound ache from deep in his chest.

Nothing had ever felt like _home,_ not since he’d been a kid … Not until this gorgeous, brilliant idiot crashed into his life, tangling them up in each other so thoroughly, Keith couldn’t remember what it was like to be without him.

He’s almost afraid of how happy he is right now.

Lance mutters something about _Slav, no, the pancakes exist in this reality,_ and Keith snorts before he’s finally resting for good, a smile on his face and the boy he loves back in his arms.

*****

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh, too much fluff, y'all. I feel so much more at home with angst ... But somehow, I think my fluffy story count is outnumbering my angst tales. When did that happen? *grumbles*
> 
> I might post a few others like this — most were little one-shots in the [_Objects in Motion_](https://archiveofourown.org/series/645575) 'verse that weren't quite long enough to be stories on their own. I might shove them into a short, chaptered addition for that series. 
> 
> I feel terrible because back when I used to take prompts, I had a couple I never got around to writing — this is why I don't take spontaneous prompts anymore. My brain doesn't always cooperate with the writing, and I hate feeling like I've let folks down. But, you know what, I might try to finish those old ideas off. Re-visiting old tales for editing/organization purposes has given me some fresh energy. And sometimes writing is a good distraction. 
> 
> (I swear I'm also writing space cowboys! But my brain does its own things and jumps to other tales at times!)
> 
> *hugs* Thanks if you made it down this far, and if you remember this tale from my Tumblr so long ago, well, extra thanks for re-reading it! :)


End file.
